Worst DC Parent

[Baby Beluga]

Ohh. I think that a police issue was my worst one, too.

Last winter a Mom was going to be late dropping off (the door locks when the drop off window is closed and I will not answer any longer). She was speeding here, a police officer turned on his lights and began chasing her, she was flying over the median to avoid him, and when he finally caught up with her she was leaving a voicemail on my phone saying don't worry, she would be here soon to take care of her son, call an ambulance, etc. Her son was IN THE CAR WITH HER. She told the police officer that her son was having seizures in my home and that she had to race to get here. She then texted telling me to not answer the door and the police officer was "acting weird." I heard knocks at the door shortly after and thinking it was her didn't answer. It was actually an ambulance. The police officer had sent a firetruck and ambulance here because he thought it odd that I hadn't requested them (he called it all in). Then more knocks came a bit later. I answered and it was the police officer. He checked my sign in log, read the text, listened to the voicemail and then pursued the Mom. My licensor then showed up right after for my yearly surprise inspection that had NOTHING to do with this incident. I began crying because of the stress and she gave me a hug.
I terminated them effective immediately and my licensor said I NEEDED to.

How did the officer miss the child in the backseat with DCM as she is telling him this story about her son?

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

my worst parent makes me cry- I reported her several times to Children's service and so did my person at Job and family but unfortunately they didn't have "enough". Dcm left 2 kids with drunk boyfriend and he drowned the little boy (he would have turned 2 on the day we buried him) Sister (3 yr old) was in the tub with her dead brother for about an hour....) Now, the "happy" out of that was then children's services removed his sister. I got pictures from her new mama of her 1st day and last day of Kinder last year. I don't get to see her now because they are trying to move her on and I understand that. I just wish that mom would have brought them to me that night (they had not been in my care for several months but I always told her that she could drop them off any time). That is my worst mom.

All the other crazy that I have had over the years...
"they love me like family, don't know what they would do without me.... and then I enforce a policy and bam. I am pulling my child today and you will never see them again even though you have had them since they were born and they are now 4!

Crazy dad- liked to be 5-15 minutes late at least 4 times a week. I wrote out a letter saying if they were late again I was terminating. (I had only really dealt with dad, at that point mom didn't have a car) Sure enough, he was late. He said how much do I owe you for being late? I said you don't, he said oh thanks I thought from the letter you would charge me. I said no as the letter stated, I am terminating you. Oh my ugly! Mom and I then talked later and I made an agreement with her and she was NEVER late. In fact, I love her dearly. She was being abused by him and I finally got her out and she and dd are doing well... 5 hours away.

oh crazy nurse, I had her son 12 hour days (never again) loved me.... Met a guy at Christmas, decided to move 8 hours away with son to be with him, the day after. Didn't understand how I could charge her the 2 week notice! It is Christmas. I said it is your contract and I will take you to small claims and since you are moving it needs to be in cash within 24 hours. She paid.

Teacher mom would hand her son a cookie every morning to eat on the way here (she lives a block down from me) knowing I would feed him breakfast. "whatever gets him through til lunch and he likes a cookie" He was one...
So then he rotted out his front teeth by 2 and the doc said get rid of the binky... so she told me this so I did. Silly me because she didn't. He would walk in with one and I would take it and put it up. One day I walked into his house and he looked at me and handed me the bink (he was 4 by this time) and mom said, oh you don't have to give it to her, you are at your house!

oh lots of crazy parents.....

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I sure hope I don't end up having stories like some of these.

I'm mostly worried about the possibility of a false charge of sexual abuse by an angry parent. I never was worried about that when I started making my plans, but a few weeks ago my sister brought it up. Like she said, there is always a risk of angry parents, or even kids, making a false charge, and if I'm watching other people's kids and it ever did happen, it could be trouble.

Why she brought that up, we know of 5 men, directly or indirectly, who have been charged in the last 20 years. 2 we know were innocent and just had an angry step-daughter. 1 we know was guilty and is in prison now. The other 2, only him, the accuser, and God know the truth. All 5 of their lives were ruined, even the 2 innocent ones, so now I'm starting to wonder if male daycare is a high risk, or if I just have to have cameras keeping a record of everything just in case.

DaveA and any other guys here, have you ever thought about the risks of false charges? Do you do anything to prevent or protect from that possible problem? Even the ladies here could be falsely charged, so do you ever think about that, or do anything about that possibility?

I'm thinking maybe it would be safer to be a manny instead. That way it's only 1 family, so much less risky.

When my husband worked here a Mom accused him of "something" (we don't even know what her accusation was and she said it to our face) while changing her pull-up. He NEVER changed her pull-up. He was here for helping me with our infant daughter, actually. She said her 2yo daughter was exploring down her pants so naturally she learned that from here. She called the police. The officer thought it was crazy as well and nothing ever came of it.

I would keep a camera system running and recording.

How did the officer miss the child in the backseat with DCM as she is telling him this story about her son?

I think he maybe thought/was told that it was a sibling??? He wouldn't know they only had one child. He didn't tell me every detail. Just that he was chasing her over medians and such.

[christine19720]

Over the almost 30 years I've been doing this there have been too many to mention. But, what I have learned is just when you thought you had seen and heard it all another ridiculous situation will present itself.

[lovemydaycare0912]

I just remember a parent who actually never made it in my care. Thank GOD! She had 6 children. Wanted the 3 school agers to be on subsidy but she would only use it during no school days. I told her I couldn't do that because I could not accept money for not having them the other days. She wanted FT for her youngest who at the time was almost 3. At the time, I knew nothing about holding fees and deposits. I submitted her subsidy paperwork before her child would begin, and had to wait forever. She lied and told them she worked in another state. Then since it was taking longer than a month, I told her I needed a holding fee because I could no longer hold her spot. I asked for $75. She said she couldn't afford it because (insert excuse here.) Then throughout that entire process, she also no longer had a cellphone. She expected me to communicate with her through her work line during work hours only. Same day, her subsidy got accepted but she would have had to pay $130 out of pocket. I left her a message and told her I was not willing to give her the spot. She never responded.

[Mike]

Short answer- yes I've thought about it. Longer answer- I don't think I could have made in this business 2 decades if it worried me. If it happens I know my career is probably screwed, but I can't live my life based on the possibility of someone else might lie. By that line of logic I wouldn't have gotten married because if things went south she might say I abused her. As for "special precautions" not really other when I was in centers the standard policies for all staff. I had problems centers not letting me work with infants and individual parents not letting their kids be in my classroom/ staff not wanting me there, but it was the minority. I say set your own guidelines to your comfort level and go with it.

True
It would be the same as saying I'm not going on a plane because it might crash, or even, I'm never getting in a car again because people have been killed in them.

All the families that have been in my life to any degree loved having me in their kids lives, so that must be a good sign. I think my sister is just over concerned because one of the men who was falsely charged is a friend of hers. I just have to be extra careful.

[Mad_Pistachio]

so, that's something I don't normally mention.
before we have enrolled into our daycare (which is, by the way, wonderful), we have heard of a sexual abuse scandal it was involved into. as far as I understand, it was before "miss Moosy" has become the director. another director's husband was accused of molesting a girl enrolled. arrest, investigation, the center closed for some half a year to a whole year, the whole shebang. the psychologists working with the girl ended up stating that she was coached: Mom wanted money out of the center. not sure what happened to the man (probably his life was ruined). the place has been deserted for a while, whoever was enrolled before the scandal were forced to find another care, and all that.
which did not stop us from enrolling.
I have not discussed the story with her, it was all through the grape vine, and, like I said, our daycare is wonderful, and I trust her with my child's life.
those things are scary, from both sides.